


Chasing The Missing Paths

by aweirdkindofyellow



Category: All Time Low (Band)
Genre: Chance Meetings, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-04
Updated: 2019-07-26
Packaged: 2020-06-07 18:49:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 17,861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19475176
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aweirdkindofyellow/pseuds/aweirdkindofyellow
Summary: Sometimes we cross paths with somebody and take it for granted, only to regret not finding a method to stay in contact to keep paths aligned. It could be that cute guy you sat down next to the bus or that charming girl who helped you pick up your books after you tripped in college. We’ve all had those mini crushes that we kept secret, only to forget. And so, you never see them again. You’ll remember them for a few days and then forget they ever existed, or they swarm your mind forever, making the agony worse.But what about the people that we bump into more than once at the most random of moments? They first seem like the stranger we’ll never talk to before, but then we see them again and again. Of course, eventually there will be communication along the lines of ‘hey, I saw you that one time and that one thing’ or maybe the flirty ‘are you stalking me?’, but what if the circumstances aren’t right? What if there’s always something holding one person back?This is a series of those events.





	1. The First Encounter

The first encounter occurred in 2011. Emma’s friends had dragged her along to a bar on a Friday night, hoping to celebrate the weekend. She was twenty-one at that time and so legally allowed to drink. However, she wasn’t like her friends (or any other twenty-one year old for that matter), as in she didn’t drink until she was drunk. It wasn’t that she didn’t enjoy having the occasional drink in the company of other people, she just knew that it didn’t do her any good. That wasn’t to say she believed people were stupid for drinking, it wasn’t that at all. It was just a personal choice.  
  
This specific night, her friends had managed to get her to come along to a karaoke bar. It was often full of drunk people who believed they were the next Beyoncé. They’d belt their hearts out, often way more flat than not. There were the few diamonds in the rough, but they were quite rare to come across, but then again it was also rare to have multiple chance encounters with one person.  
  
That brings us to Emma’s co-star in this retelling of events: Alex Gaskarth. He happened to be at that same karaoke bar, occupying a table with many of his friends. With how much they were drinking and how far away they were sitting, he would have never noticed Emma. To him, she was just another piece of the larger crowd at the bar.  
  
Now, being the lead singer of a band, Alex didn’t mind getting up on that stage to sing no matter how drunk he was. He actually believed the drunker the better. It was all just good fun. He’d go up there solo, with friends who couldn’t sing if their lives depended on it, or with friends who were equally as talented. His favorites included the Backstreet Boys and any other cheesy songs he could get his hands on. The funnier the better. He quite loved the attention.  
  
Emma, on the other hand, was left by her friends. Or, well, she didn’t really mind. They all wanted to go clubbing, only coming to the karaoke bar to pregame. While Emma was happy to come with them to the bar, she drew the line at going to a club. She couldn’t stand having to scream over the loud music everybody either shuffled or jumped to. Although alone, she much preferred the atmosphere of a karaoke bar. Plus, she had signed herself up for a song and her friends wanted to leave before she got to go, so she wanted to wait until that.  
  
So, how did these individuals with vastly different lifestyles cross paths? It was all due to one song: _Ain’t No Mountain High Enough_ by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell. Everybody knows the song and from how cheesy it is, it is more than easy to guess Alex was the one who had chosen it.  
  
His name was called out and he got up on stage. There was just one thing missing. The song was obviously a duet, that’s why most people chose it, yet Alex was all by himself. Nobody really thought much about it, including Emma who wasn’t paying all too much attention. Let’s be honest, most people didn’t even know which song was being sung until a well-known chorus came along.  
  
“Oh, come on, babe,” Alex said through the microphone, holding out a hand to gesture for his girlfriend to come up on stage with him, “it will be fun!”  
  
It wasn’t what he said that caught Emma’s attention, it was what happened right after. Alex’s girlfriend got up and picked up her bag. But she didn’t go up on stage with him. Oh, no, the opposite happened. She stormed out of the bar, not looking back. It was quite the scene. Some people voiced their sympathy, but nobody knew why she ran out in the first place. Maybe they had gotten into an argument before and this was just the cherry on top, or maybe she was embarrassed. Either way, it looked painful.  
  
Yet Alex just shrugged. “Guess I’ll be singing this duet alone then.”  
  
The backing track started playing and Emma couldn’t ignore the second-hand embarrassment. She stood up from her own chair and rushed to the stage as the stranger started singing.  
  
“Listen, baby  
Ain't no mountain high  
Ain't no valley low  
Ain't no river wide enough, baby”  
  
She made it just in time for the female part, missing out the first two words, catching the guy off guard at first. But he started smiling as she progressed through the verse.  
  
“If you need me, call me  
No matter where you are  
No matter how far (don't worry, baby)  
Just call my name  
I'll be there in a hurry  
You don't have to worry  
Cause baby there ”  
  
Alex completely disregarded that they were strangers and that she would have personal boundaries, and put an arm around her shoulders, pulling her close. Maybe it was because he was drunk, or maybe it was because he was happy there was somebody helping him out. Either way, he was having fun like he wanted.  
  
“Ain't no mountain high enough  
Ain't no valley low enough  
Ain't no river wide enough  
To keep me from getting to you, babe”  
  
To make it even cheesier, Alex let go of the girl and acted like he was dramatically serenading her for the male part’s verse, causing his entire table of friends to whoop and holler in amusement.  
  
“Remember the day  
I set you free  
I told you you could always count on me, darling  
From that day on, I made a vow  
I'll be there when you want me  
Some way, some how  
Cause baby there  
Ain't no mountain high enough  
Ain't no valley low enough  
Ain't no river wide enough  
To keep me from getting to you, babe  
Oh no, darling”  
  
Even Emma seemed to be having fun. While her clothes suggested a quiet shy conservative blonde girl, she was singing to her heart’s desire, and all without much effort. She had quite the stage presence herself. Alex felt quite lucky that this stranger decided to randomly join him.  
  
“No wind, no rain  
Nor winter storm  
Can't stop me baby  
  
No no baby  
  
Cause you are my goal  
  
If you're ever in trouble  
I'll be there on the double  
Just send for me  
  
Oh baby!  
  
My love is alive  
Way down in my heart  
Although we are miles apart  
  
If you ever need a helping hand  
I'll be there on the double  
Just as fast as I can  
  
Don't you know that there...  
  
Ain't no mountain high enough  
Ain't no valley low enough  
Ain't no river wide enough  
To keep me from getting to you  
Ain't no mountain high enough  
Ain't no valley low enough  
Ain't no river wide enough  
Ain't no mountain high enough  
Ain't no valley low enough.”  
  
The song came to an end and so did their encounter. After thanking the audience that mainly wasn’t paying attention, Alex’s microphone went back onto the stand, while Emma’s went back to the DJ. They got off the stage to give the next performer the space to get up after the name was announced.  
  
“I’m Alex,” he introduced as they were at the bottom of the three steps and held out his hand.  
  
“I’m--” Emma went to shake his hand, but she was interrupted by the DJ calling out her name to be the next performer. “Oh, shit, that’s me.”  
  
She scrambled back up on stage and stood in front of the microphone Alex had used just before. While she stood up there waiting for her song to start, she giggled and took hold of her skirt like she was about to curtsey only to drop the fabric again. She seemed so bubbly, forming a smile on Alex’s face as he walked back to his table without getting a formal introduction.  
  
“Dude, that girl’s hot.” Alex’s friend, Jack, slapped him on the chest in an attention-wanting manner.  
  
“Yeah, but I have a girlfriend,” Alex contradicted and leaned back in his chair, looking up at the stage and actually wanting to watch the entire performance for the first time that night.  
  
“A girlfriend who just walked out and embarrassed you in front of an entire bar,” Jack snorted, and also looked at the stage, but only because he was figuring out a game plan.  
  
“But still a girlfriend.”  
  
“Then I call dibs.”  
  
Emma’s song started, a simple piano playing in the background, telling Alex this song wasn’t as happy as the one they had done together. It went against the bubbly personality he got a brief glimpse of. Her arms were hanging down, her hand in front of her. She looked down at them shyly as the first verse started. Her voice sounded fairly quiet and shy, yet good nonetheless.  
  
“It's not simple to say  
Most days I don't recognize me  
That these shoes and this apron  
That place and its patrons  
Have taken more than I gave them  
It's not easy to know  
I'm not anything like I used to be  
Although it's true  
I was never attention's sweet center  
I still remember that girl”  
  
It confused Alex that the girl who went up to help a stranger and sang a song with him now seemed so timid. She started playing with the fabric of her skirt again, but not in the same perky way as before.  
  
“She's imperfect but she tries  
She is good but she lies  
She is hard on herself  
She is broken and won't ask for help  
She is messy but she's kind  
She is lonely most of the time  
She is all of this mixed up  
And baked in a beautiful pie  
She is gone but she used to be mine”  
  
But then the other instruments started kicking in and she got a little more confident. Her hands were no longer by her side, she started making gestures and her voice became more powerful.  
  
“It's not what I asked for  
Sometimes life just slips in through a back door  
And carves out a person  
And makes you believe it's all true  
And now I've got you  
And you're not what I asked for”  
  
In the middle of the verse, the power started coming out more, yet she still stood behind the mic-stand as if for protection. It wasn’t what Alex had seen before.  
  
“If I'm honest I know I would give it all back  
For a chance to start over  
And rewrite an ending or two  
For the girl that I knew  
  
Who'll be reckless just enough  
Who'll get hurt  
But who learns how to toughen up when she's bruised  
And gets used by a man who can't love  
And then she'll get stuck”  
  
Her voice was now even better than Alex had heard during their duet. This song was obviously vocally a lot more challenging than the one they had done, yet she was doing it flawlessly. Her hands traveled to the microphone, and at the perfect moment, she took it off the stand like she had practiced it before and sounded the strongest she had that entire night.  
  
“And be scared of the life that's inside her  
Growing stronger each day  
'Til it finally reminds her  
To fight just a little  
To bring back the fire in her eyes  
That's been gone but used to be mine  
  
Used to be mine”  
Although still holding the microphone, she resumed her initial self-conscious position and her voice became quiet again.  
  
“She is messy but she's kind  
She is lonely most of the time  
She is all of this mixed up and baked in a beautiful pie  
She is gone but she used to be mine”  
  
And just like that, the song had ended. Alex had watched and observed the entire thing and didn’t want it to end just yet. He was completely mesmerized by the girl. Yet he knew he had a girlfriend. He was just amazed by the performance.  
  
She got back off stage, once again most of the audience not noticing what magnificence had happened right in front of them. Alex’s eyes followed her as she went back to her empty table and got her belongings. As she left the bar, she happened to walk fairly close to his table. He felt like he needed to say something, but he didn’t know what. So, he just let her walk away.  
  
Jack, however, had ‘called dibs’ and wasn’t going to let her go that easily.  
  
 _“Hey!”_ he yelled out, getting her attention and he beckoned her over. She walked the short distance and waited for him to say what he wanted. Jack cut to the chase and asked, “can I get your number?”  
  
“Umm…” Emma’s eyebrows furrowed and she licked her lips in thought. “I don’t know you?”  
  
“You know him.” Jack jerked a thumb in Alex’s direction.  
  
“I don’t know him.” She shook her head.  
  
“But isn’t that the whole point of giving your number. So you can get to know each other?”  
  
“I’m sorry, but not right now,” she excused before leaving.  
  
“Damn,” Jack muttered, grabbing his beer and taking a large gulp, “her loss.”


	2. The Second Encounter

The second encounter didn’t happen much longer after the first one. Some may say it happened the day after. So soon after each other was purely coincidental. Or was it? They had to be in the same area if they saw each other in such a short time span. There was no way they would meet each other twice, once at a local bar and once at a flower shop, if one of them lived on the other side of the city or maybe even country. Statistically speaking, they had to live in the same neighborhood. Or one of them was on vacation.  
  
As said before, the second encounter happened at a flower shop. Despite still going to school, Emma worked at the shop as a manager even though she loved helping people choose their flowers the most. She used to spend a lot of time there as a kid, trying to memorize anything she could learn about all the different kinds of plants they had. As a teenager, she moved away for a while, but now that she was relatively close again, she knew it was the perfect job for her to earn some money while having fun.  
  
Alex, on the other hand, did not enter that shop for fun. He had something to make up for. After his girlfriend walked out during karaoke, their relationship did not just go on its merry way. There was already a slight disagreement, but it had turned into a full-blown fight. It ended with Alex being ignored and no more talking. After giving in that it was his fault, he wanted to show just how sorry he was and get some flowers along with his apology. Hence, he was in the flower shop where Emma worked.  
  
He entered the small store, making a bell ring as he opened the door and it closed again behind him. There were funny and inspirational quotes on the walls, but mainly an overabundance of plants. The sweet smell was just a little too strong, but the beautiful colors made up for it.  
  
At first, Alex planned on just going straight to the premade bouquets and picking up the one he thought his girlfriend would like, but then he saw a familiar face. The girl that was walking around writing something on a clipboard was the girl who had helped him out at the karaoke bar. It was like the universe was giving him a second chance to appreciate what she had done and how well she sang.  
  
“Umm, excuse me?” Alex uttered to get the girl’s attention after he had walked up to her.  
  
She looked up from her clipboard and smiled when she recognized the face. “Hey, aren’t you the guy that got walked out on at the bar?”  
  
“Well, jeez,” he put his hands in his front pockets and bounced on the balls of his feet, “that’s what you remember me for? Not for the amazing experience or the great vocals?”  
  
“Okay, well, singing with you was awesome,” she said as he wanted.  
  
"Singing with you was awesome as well," Alex agreed, enjoying the short conversation he was having. "Although, I must say, the song you did solo, you were super shy at the beginning. But then you got out of your shell a little. You were _real_ good."  
  
"I wasn't shy. It's all part of the act," she explained before changing the subject. “So, I’m assuming you’re here to buy flowers?”  
  
“Ah, yes,” Alex nodded, remembering his initial problem even though the girl had literally mentioned it a few seconds before. “I need something for my girlfriend.”  
  
“Just let me finish writing this number I have in my head right now,” Emma tapped her pen on the list she had on paper, “and I’ll help you out.”  
  
He nodded to show that was okay, yet asked a question nonetheless. “Completely random, but I didn’t quite catch your name last time.”  
  
“Emma,” she replied, writing down what she needed before looking back up at him. “What was yours again?”  
  
“Alex.”  
  
“Both very easy names,” she giggled and shook her head as she clipped her pen on the board. “So, Alex, what are these flowers for? Are they supposed to say ‘I love you’ or ‘I’m sorry’ or something else?”  
  
“I’m sorry,” Alex responded with some shame. “I think ‘I love you’ is pushing it a little. An apology needs to come first.”  
  
“Okay, well,” Emma took his answer without any judgment, seeing cases like this on a daily basis, “you can go for the classic rose. It’s simple and you can’t go wrong. However, depending on your girlfriend, she might think it’s a cop-out. The most important thing is to make it cheerful, though. Hmm…” she started looking around the store, Alex following her like a lost puppy. “You know what? I think you should actually go for some yellow roses, but add some--”  
  
A guy stormed into the store, looking distraught, and yelled, _“code five!”_  
  
“Code five?!?” Emma sprung up right and looked at him before looking at her male c- worker behind the counter. “Jonathan, will you take Alex, here, from me, and I will take our friend?”  
  
“Sure thing.” He came out from behind the counter and bounced up to Alex.  
  
“I’m sorry,” Emma apologized to the man she was helping before, “this is a forgotten-anniversary-and-realized-too-late emergency.”  
  
“Ooh,” Alex hissed with an understanding look, “go save that man.”  
  
And that’s what Emma did. Jonathan took over helping Alex and made him a beautiful personalized bouquet. Just like that, their second encounter had ended. Emma was still frantically helping out the other man, who was in even deeper trouble than Alex, when Alex had paid and was walking out of the store. He didn’t have the heart to interrupt them to say goodbye.


	3. The Third Encounter

The third encounter happened a little further from home. Well, if taken literally and not figuratively. It was 2012 by now and both Alex and Emma happened to be in the same building on the other side of the country. This was LA, the city where dreams came true. Or, at least, that was for aspiring musicians and actors, and only a small privileged portion of the people actually got to make their dream a reality. For Emma, however, the dream was back in New York. She still went to school on the east coast, she just happened to be in LA for an internship of a few months and was working on graduating.  
  
Alex was all over the place. He lived on the east coast, recorded on the west coast, and toured all over the world. The hectic lifestyle only made him restless whenever he was at home and had nothing to do. He loved his job and wouldn’t trade it for anything.  
  
So, now, where did these guys run into each other? At a recording studio in the aforementioned studio. Although technically labelless, Alex’s entire band was working on an album to come back as the band they wanted to be instead of the one they were instructed to be. It was quite a reasonable reason.  
  
Alex and Emma literally bumped into each other in the break room one afternoon. Emma was looking at the selection of fruit while Alex was getting some tea for his throat. The latter took a step back, causing him to knock into the other.  
  
“Oh, sorry!” Alex yelped, turning around to see who he had practically assaulted.  
  
“It’s fine,” Emma brushed it off. The bump wasn’t that bad, she was nowhere close to being knocked over.  
  
“Emma?” Alex frowned, wondering if he really had managed to encounter the girl from karaoke yet again. While he could still recognize her, she looked a little different. Her blonde hair was lighter, probably from the California sun, and she wasn’t wearing a cute dress, instead having gone for some simple plan blue jeans and a gray t-shirt.  
  
She nodded and took a good look at the guy. Once she was able to place him, she noticed that he hadn’t changed a bit. “Alex, right?”  
  
“Yeah!” He laughed in surprise. “It’s been awhile since you saved my ass.”  
  
“I’m assuming the flowers worked.”  
  
“Flowers? Oh right! Flowers! Yeah, they really did help.” He nodded, having briefly forgotten about that second time they met. “Anyway, what are you doing here?”  
  
“Oh, I’m doing an internship here,” Emma told him without giving any further details.  
  
Alex waited a few seconds to see if she would elaborate, but she didn’t, so he just grinned. “Awesome! I’m working on some music right now. If you want, you can take a look.”  
  
“Sure,” she shrugged and quickly grabbed an apple, “I’m taking a break, so I’ve got some time.”  
  
And so they took the elevator one floor up. Emma followed Alex until the end of the hallway, where he made a sudden right and walked into a room with a heavy wooden door. There were four other people in the studio. Emma assumed that the one at the control board was the producer, while the other three were just sitting around on a couch or office chairs. They had to either be friends or people Alex worked with. Emma didn’t even know Alex did anything related to music.  
  
“Hey guys, this is Emma,” Alex introduced as the guys were all staring at her in confusion. “I just wanted to show her what we’re working on.”  
  
“I recognize you,” the only guy with black hair pointed out. “Did we sleep together?”  
  
“No,” Emma said bluntly and scrunched up her nose, which Alex thought was adorable.  
  
“She’s the girl that sang with me during karaoke,” Alex clarified, hoping they would remember as well. They were all just blanking. “... after Megan walked out?”  
  
“Oh right!” Jack, the guy with the black hair, snapped his fingers. “The girl who didn’t want to give me her number cause she didn’t know me! Or Alex. But you guys obviously know each other if you’re here now.”  
  
“We don’t really know each other except for that evening,” Alex explained, seeing now that he had brought up a complete stranger without knowing anything about her except her name. “But Emma’s doing an internship here.”  
  
“Oh, so you want to be a producer?” The man at the panels said with a smirk, liking that somebody would want to follow his profession.  
  
“Oh, no. My internship isn’t here in this building. I meant in LA,” Emma made clear, hoping she didn’t come off rude. “No, my internship is with a vocal coach. I’m just doing my graduation project here.”  
  
“So, you want to be a vocal coach?” The guy with the shortest hair, Rian, assumed.  
  
“No.”  
  
“You are confusing,” Alex chuckled and scratched his head. Had he decided to show some crazy person the things he was working on?  
  
“Well, can you give Alex some vocal coaching?” Jack asked while spinning on his office chair. “Cause he sounds like shit.”  
  
“I don’t think I’m qualified for that…” Emma excused and took a bite from her apple.  
  
“You are just getting more confusing with every question you’re answering.”  
  
“Okay, well, it’s quite a long story, but if you want to know…” she started telling them. “I’ve always been in a school for music and theater and decided to continue after I graduated and went to college. So, they want us to get some experience. But you can’t exactly join a musical with no experience, so it’s a never-ending cycle. I’m getting some experience with my internship with a vocal coach and I’m writing a song with other students for our graduation project, both will look good on my resume once I do do auditions. So, I’m here to record a ‘musical’ song I wrote with classmates, and I worked with a vocal coach training students. Hence, I don’t think I’m qualified to give you tips because I don’t think you’re writing broadway songs here. Unless you want help with your articulation and expression.”  
  
“So you want to be a broadway star?” Alex wondered if he understood the story that was all over the place, getting a nod from Emma. “But you’re in LA?”  
  
“Because of my internship and to record, everything else is back in New York.”  
  
“Huh… interesting…” He nodded, understanding now that Emma wasn’t just some random talent at a karaoke bar, but that she had actually pursued it and worked for it since she was a kid. “I mean, you’re right, we are in a rock band, but I’m always down for vocal warm-ups.”  
  
“I don’t think I can teach you anything you don’t already know. And something tells me you don’t need practice singing and doing a dance routine at the same time and don’t need to know how to put emotion into your singing.” Emma didn’t understand why they just wanted her help.  
  
“Well, don’t songs always have emotion?”  
  
“I mean more than just quieter smoother singing when you’re singing a ballad or a harsher louder singing when you’re mad; I mean making the script and music seem like one and not like separate components.”  
  
“It has to all be part of the act,” Alex added, finally making sense of the sentence that had ran circles in his mind after seeing Emma at the flower shop. He didn’t get what she had meant back then, but it all made sense now. The song was part of a musical, that’s why it seemed like she knew the entire song: she just simply did.  
  
“Exactly,” Emma agreed with a nod, spinning the apple in her hands. “Anyway, I have to get back to my own project, we have a lot to do and a very strict deadline. If you decided to really need my help, I’ll be somewhere in the building.”  
  
She said goodbye, getting a chorus back from all the guys, before leaving the studio and closing the heavy door. Alex let himself fall down on the couch and pulled out his phone, waiting to be directed what he had to do.  
  
Jack, however, just kept staring at Alex in disbelief. “Dude, go after her!”  
  
“What? Why?” Alex laughed at Jack’s determination.  
  
“You guys obviously hit it off. Ask her out!”  
  
“Umm… I still have a girlfriend,” he chuckled awkwardly.  
  
“Then I want her number,” Jack whined, still thinking the girl was super hot.  
  
“She won’t give it to you,” Alex disagreed.  
  
“What, why?”  
  
“Cause she doesn’t know you,” he teased with a wink.


	4. The Fourth Encounter

The fourth encounter wasn’t a strange one. It wasn’t like the one that happened before, which was very coincidental and relatively impossible. This encounter happened back on the east coast, close by to where they had first met. It didn’t happen at the karaoke bar, neither had been there in a while. It occurred at a normal backyard party. Though, normal might have been an understatement. There were quite a few people, but it also wasn’t like a frat party. The backyard was quite large, and the host must have spent ages organizing it. There were tents, free drinks, food, lights, and even a bonfire.  
  
Alex was newly singly--or at least he considered himself that way. It had been over a month and it was finally starting to hit him that he really had lost his girlfriend this time. So, when a friend asked him and Jack to come along to a party, he couldn’t say no especially when the open bar was mentioned. He wouldn’t just let an opportunity like this pass him by. Maybe he was going to meet his soulmate, and he couldn’t afford to miss that… or at least he wanted to find somebody to hook up with. It had been a while.  
  
He had a plastic cup filled with beer in one hand as he scoped the party with Jack. There was one thing they had agreed on that night. It wasn’t who was going to be the responsible one, it wasn’t who was going to be the one that made sure they made it home safe, and it also wasn’t the one who was going to get all the drinks. No, they agreed to be each other’s wingman that night, and it was a title they were going to honor.  
  
“How about that girl?” Jack asked Alex, pointing in a general direction where Alex could see at least five girls.  
  
“Which one?” Alex questioned, unsure which one of the girls Jack meant. Granted, if any of them really stood out to him, he would have gone for that one, and none of them really did anything for him.  
  
“Blonde, pink tight shirt, nice boobs,” Jack clarified, keeping his eyes on said girl and really liking what he was seeing.  
  
“She’s more your type,” Alex commented, chuckling softly at how infatuated he was with her already, “not really mine.”  
  
“Okay, okay,” Jack shook himself out of the trance he was in and continued to scan the place for somebody for Alex. He knew that he could easily get somebody he wanted, it was just Alex who needed a little help and a little push.  
  
“Hey…” Alex softly hit Jack on the chest with a single motion to get his attention and was focused on another blonde girl in a completely different direction. Her hair came to her shoulders, bouncing with every movement she made. “Is that Emma?”  
  
“Huh?” Jack looked in the same direction, no idea who this ‘Emma’ girl was. But when he looked, his gaze immediately fell upon the girl who he still hadn’t gotten a phone number from. “That’s the girl from karaoke!”  
  
“Yeah, Emma!” Alex agreed and lit up for the first time since he had broken up with his girlfriend. He was way too excited to see a girl he had only encountered three times before.  
  
“Well…” Jack urged and gave his best friend a nudge.  
  
“What?” Alex looked at him, oblivious to what Jack was suggesting.  
  
“Are you going to talk to her and ask her out or not?” he pressed, trying to get his friend to talk to the girl they kept running into.  
  
“Oh…” Alex’s face dropped and gazed in Emma’s direction again before shaking his head. “That would be a little weird, wouldn’t it?”  
  
“Umm… no?” Jack shook his head, thinking Alex was being ridiculous while also understanding where his insecurity was coming from. “But you didn’t say no, so that means you are interested! I’ll come with you, because that’s what I, as designated wingman, am here for.”  
  
“Fine,” Alex groaned like he was a teenager that was forced to come to a family event by his parents, while he was actually very eager to talk to Emma again.  
  
As he and Jack started their journey to Emma, who was standing by herself and seemed a little lost, Alex quickly downed the rest of his beer feeling the need for some liquid courage. He had been so cool around her all the other times, he was afraid he was going to fuck up just because he had a different motive this time. This wasn’t just him being friendly, this was him being friendly in hopes of getting a date or maybe even taking her back to his hotel room for the night. He would take anything he could get.  
  
“Hello, stranger, we just saw you from across the yard,” Jack smoothly made their presence known after he noticed Alex was having trouble formulating the right words in his head beforehand.  
  
“Oh my god,” a bright smile appeared on Emma’s face and she laughed in excitement, “Alex?!”  
  
She proceeded to hug him enthusiastically, catching Alex off guard who still reciprocated the hug. At least she still remembered him, so that was something. He just didn’t know if that was a bad or good thing. Either he had made a good impression or a really bad one for her to still remember.  
  
“And I don’t know your name, but hi!” she exclaimed, stretching out to hug Jack as well. “What are you guys doing here?!’  
  
“Oh, you know, it’s a party,” Alex grinned widely, feeling a little more confident that earlier.  
  
Simultaneously, Jack tried to introduce himself, but was having trouble breaking through the bubble of joy the two had and the mumbles drowned out, “umm, Jack, my name, I’m Jack…”  
  
“I didn’t think you would like these kinds of parties,” Emma was still so surprised to see them, unsure why she was so excited to talk to people she really didn’t know.  
  
“These kinds of parties?” Alex frowned and looked around to see if there was anything they were missing.  
  
“Oh, you know…” Emma shrugged and made the devil hand sign. “It’s not very punk rock.”  
  
“What’s that supposed to mean?”  
  
“It’s not really a party to go hard at. Nobody’s here to get blackout drunk, nobody’s out to smash a TV and dance on a table,” she explained, looking around at the white tents and fairy lights.  
  
“What? We don’t just go to those kinds of parties, we go to others as well!” Alex tried to act nonchalant to impress Emma.  
  
“It’s true, though,” Jack interrupted, “we mainly do go to that type of party.”  
  
And Jack was completely right. They always went to parties and got completely trashed. Alex was known as the life of the party. He knew how to get everybody going. They could turn anything into the most epic party ever. But even he knew when it wasn’t the right time. For example, as soon as they had arrived at the mansion and had entered the backyard, they realized this was a more mature party. Nobody was going to frown upon flirting and trying to find a one-night-stand, but everybody would judge if you were to drunkenly jump into the fountain.  
  
While Emma had seemed completely lost to Alex and Jack, she actually wasn’t at all. She knew exactly what she was doing and had been at these parties before. They possibly weren’t as expensive and large, but she knew exactly how to behave. This was her crowd. Calm and composed, but not afraid to let a little loose to have a good time. She knew quite a few people around her, she just happened to be waiting for somebody and had promised she wouldn’t move to prevent losing each other.  
  
Before Jack could get to the proper ‘wingmaning’ and put Alex up on a pedestal or Alex could subtly start flirting with Emma, the person she had been waiting for joined the group.  
  
“Here you go, m’lady,” a guy handed her a see-through plastic cup of white wine and winked at her.  
  
Alex felt his heart drop when he wrapped an arm around her. He was tall, just like Jack, only built a lot better, though not as muscular as Zack. It was more like an ‘I work out to be healthy but also happily eat some junk food’ type of body. His dark brown hair made a perfect upward swoop, the sides shorter. And although he wore dark-rimmed glasses, it somehow made his eyes stand out more. Alex was praying that this guy just happened to be a friend of Emma’s, because he definitely didn’t have a shot otherwise.  
  
“Alex, _Jack,”_ Emma started introducing, putting a smile to Jack’s face when he found out she had heard him, and put a hand on the man’s chest, “this is my boyfriend, Evan.”  
  
“Oh, nice to meet you.” Alex remained polite and shook the man’s hand. Jack did so too.  
  
But before they could continue their conversation or start a new one with a different path than Alex had in mind, a girl with black hair came up to Emma as well.  
  
“Ems, you need to meet my director friend,” she insisted, taking hold of Emma’s arm.  
  
“Oh, right! Let’s go do that!” Emma nodded and was being dragged away. Before she left, though, she turned to Alex and Jack and said, “I’ll come find you again later.”  
  
Ethan, who they also didn’t get to know at all, followed the girls. While he could have stayed with two strangers, he preferred to go along with the two people he did know. If that wasn’t his reason, then he wanted to be there with his girlfriend when she had this talk. You see, Emma had gotten a small role in a play off-broadway, and was trying to work her way up to eventually get to her dream. She was going to take any opportunity she could get.  
  
“Damn,” Jack sighed in disappointment.  
  
“It’s okay,” Alex also breathed out, although he really had hoped this could have been something, “we’ll find me somebody else.”  
  
“No, not that, I still didn’t get her phone number!”  
  
And they never saw Emma again that night. Alex, did however find her on Twitter and followed her that night while he was all alone in his hotel bed.


	5. The Fifth Encounter

The fifth encounter wasn’t as coincidental as the four that happened earlier. It was now the beginning of 2013, the start of February to be exact. Alex was going to have a full year of non-stop touring and Emma was still out trying to make a name for herself. She had gotten a little further since she had last seen Alex. She was happy with her progress, but a lot less happy about the breakup she had just gone through. It was what led to this semi-planned encounter. Emma went to twitter to ask her friends if anybody wanted to go on the trip she was originally going to go on with her (now ex) boyfriend.  
  
 **@FeyThereEmma:** Once again, all alone in this apartment. At least I’ve still got my cactus.  
 _23 Likes, 0 Retweets, 5 Comments_  
 **@FeyThereEmma:** Anybody down to join my two-day trip to Iceland? I’ve got an extra ticket.  
 _3 Likes, 0 Retweets, 2 Comments - Alex Gaskarth liked this tweet_  
 **@FeyThereEmma:** Everything has been booked already.  
 _1 Like, 0 Retweets, 3 Comments - Alex Gaskarth liked and commented on this tweet_  
 **@AlexAllTimeLow:** @FeyThereEmma Hit me up  
 _78 Likes, 10 Retweets, 2 Comments_  
 **@FeyThereEmma:** @AlexAllTimeLow I am being completely serious  
 _1 Like, 0 Retweets, 1 Comment - Alex Gaskarth liked and commented on this tweet_  
 **@AlexAllTimeLow:** @FeyThereEmma so am I!  
 _20 Likes, 2 Retweets, 0 Comments_  
  
They switched over to their direct messages afterward. Or at least, Alex did to show he really did want to find out more about this trip. He only came across Emma’s tweets occasionally and would sometimes like them. This time, however, he felt a pull that made him actually want to interact and go on a crazy adventure. He knew his year was packed, but he wasn’t going to let this opportunity of making contact again pass him by.  
  
 **Alex Gaskarth:** I am 100% serious. Give me the dates and I’ll check my calendar.  
 **Emma Fey:** Tomorrow at 9:10 in the morning from JFK airport and returning home two days later.  
 **Alex Gaskarth:** Holy shit, tomorrow? That’s soon!  
 **Emma Fey:** Yeah. I’m pretty sure nobody’s going to say yes, but it’s worth a try. I’m assuming you’re too busy based on all of those tweets about your band.  
 **Alex Gaskarth:** Actually… I have five days before I need to leave again…  
 **Emma Fey:** You should spend that time at home with family. Don’t worry, I get it.  
 **Alex Gaskarth:** No. I’m booking a flight from DC to New York right now. It’s going to be an early morning.  
 **Emma Fey:** Wait, hang on, really?!  
 **Alex Gaskarth:** _Image attached_  
 **Emma Fey:** Holy shit! Okay, umm, give me your details so I can switch around the ticket I have for you.  
 **Alex Gaskarth:** Is this your plan to commit identity theft.  
 **Emma Fey:** Really? Do you think I’m capable of that? I went to school for music and theater.  
 **Alex Gaskarth:** Okay, just let me find the shit you need.  
  
And, just like that, Alex impulsively went on a trip with a girl he barely knew. She could have easily used all his details to take advantage of him, she could have easily kidnapped him, but he trusted her. While not knowing anything about her other than her name and passion--he didn’t even know her age--he felt like seeing each other briefly four times before was enough. He didn’t have a single worry.  
  
They met at the gate in JFK airport. Emma was already standing there with her suitcase, a coffee in her hand which she was sipping on. Her hair was up in a bun, prepared for the flight, and her leggings and oversized sweater were purely worn for comfort. She was looking around casually, both keeping an eye out for Alex and taking in her surroundings.  
  
When her eyes landed on Alex, who was only a few more steps away, she smiled. When he finally got to her, they shared a hug.  
  
“I didn’t expect anybody to come on this trip, and I sure as hell didn’t expect you!” Emma said as a greeting, still amazed that he just dropped everything to fly out with her.  
  
“I was just sitting at home and this sounded like fun,” Alex shrugged, acting like it wasn’t an all too big deal. It really was the restlessness in him coming out. He always longed for his own bed, but when he was there for a few days, he couldn’t wait to get out again. This was exactly what he needed.  
  
“My mom freaked out a little when I told her I was going on this trip with a guy I only met three times before.”  
  
“Four, actually,” Alex corrected, still remembering every single one of them. “But it was also a difficult one to explain to my girlfriend. I might have lied a little and said I was flying out to write some songs and that you’re a music-industry related contact.”  
  
This time Emma felt a little awkward. She was unsure exactly why, but she definitely knew it was about the word ‘girlfriend’ he used. Either she had wished something could have happened between them, or she felt weird going on a trip while Alex’s girlfriend didn’t know the whole truth. It was probably a little of both, but she was quite sure that it was her recent breakup talking. She wanted to get over Ethan as soon as possible even though it was going to take a while.  
  
“Is this the same girlfriend who walked out during karaoke?” Emma asked out of curiosity.  
  
“It is actually.” Alex nodded, smiling a little when talking about Megan. “We kind of have an on-again-off-again relationship.”  
  
“Oh, I would not be able to do that myself. I would get fed up with somebody constantly going back and forth with their feelings for me. it just seems so apathetic,” Emma commented and soon realized she probably shouldn't have said what she did. So, to change the subject, she made another cup of coffee appear. “Anyway, I got you some coffee too!”  
  
“Thanks, you shouldn’t have.” Alex accepted it and took a drink, hoping it would wake him up a little because he had been awake since very early in the morning. “You already paid for the ticket. Speaking of which, how do you randomly have one laying around?”  
  
“My boyfriend broke up with me three days ago.”  
  
“I'm sorry, that sucks.” He frowned and took his turn to feel bad for what he had said.  
  
However, neither actually felt offended by whatever the other person had said or asked. They were just getting to know each other a little and setting boundaries at the same time. Yet, since both were afraid to offend the other, they avoided any personal subjects while waiting to board their plane. They mostly exchanged words that were more related to small talk than actually finding out about each other. Alex mentioned some tour stories, but nothing was too personal; it was mainly what he felt okay saying in an interview as well.  
  
When they got to their seat and sat down, though, Emma felt the need to actually know more about the stranger she was actually going away with. She couldn’t imagine this trip only consisting of small talk and polite nods. This was the person she was going to have to share all her experiences on the trip with.  
  
“Tell me one interesting fact about yourself,” she suggested after staring out of the window from her small economy seat for a while. Alex looked at her in slight shock; he did feel the same, but it was so straightforward and out of the blue. Emma just made it a little more specific. “Just one for now.”  
  
“Okay…” Alex thought for a while, unsure where to start before deciding on something quite simple. “I’m originally from England. I was born there but we moved out to Baltimore when I was a kid. I’ve been here ever since. What about you?”  
  
“Where I’m from?” Emma questioned, knowing her answer wasn’t interesting at all. Born in New York, grew up in New York, and stayed there her whole life. But that was only because her dream was there. It wasn’t like there was any other city for her to break out to.  
  
“No, an interesting fact,” Alex said, watching as the last few people entered the plane. “If it’s where you’re from, then that’s cool, though.”  
  
Emma shook her head and thought for a little while. “Hmm… oh! I was actually adopted when I was two. I don’t know my biological parents and don’t have the need to. There’s a reason why I ended up with my parents and I love them a lot.”  
  
Alex felt a little guilty that her fact was a lot more personal than his. He literally just skimmed the surface of what he could tell anybody about himself. But then again, it wasn’t his fault she had decided to tell him that she was adopted. He did go first after all. Now, if he had gone after her with his lame fact, then he should have felt horrible.  
  
“You know what?” Emma rolled her head to the left in Alex’s direction and looked up to him. “We should turn this into a game. Whenever something significant happens, like getting on the plane now, we have to tell each other something about ourselves. That doesn’t mean we can’t get to know each other in between those moments.”  
  
“I’m down,” he agreed yet again in the past 24 hours.


	6. The Sixth Encounter

The sixth encounter was yet of another different kind. While once again very unplanned, it didn’t happen much later than the previous encounter. It occurred on the last day of their trip, the evening before they were going to return home and part ways. There are no words or too many words to summarize what happened and the feelings that were felt this time. All that can be said was that Alex and Emma had more fun than they expected, and their expectations were quite high already.  
  
“We're back at the hotel room!” Alex exclaimed after Emma used a keycard to unlock it and they both entered. “Time for a fact!”  
  
“Oh, umm, oh god, I can’t think of--” Emma looked up, trying to think of something quickly since they had turned it into something rapid fire after they had both had once taken way too long to think of one, before blurting out, “I lost my virginity when I was nineteen! Your turn!”  
  
“Oh, shit!” Alex was now the one to panic, always forgetting to think of something before he even announced that it was time for a fact. He took the easy way out this time. “Umm… sixteen! Or fifteen! I don’t really remember.”  
  
“Not bad, not bad,” Emma approved jokingly, both a lot calmer now. “Based on all I know, you seem like a guy I would avoid at all costs in high school.”  
  
“And you seem like a girl I would have hopelessly tried to get with,” he commented back, knowing it was the truth. He was unsure if teenage him would actually want to be in a relationship over a one-night-stand, but it required a similar beginning. Now, however, he already had a great girlfriend.  
  
“Exactly,” Emma giggled. Although she went to a school for music and theater, she always hated the people that acted loud and full of themselves. It helped people get further in that industry, but she just wasn’t that person. “But I’m happy I’m on this trip with you now. I’m sure if anybody else came along, they would have absolutely refused to go snorkeling in the freezing water just to see two tectonic plates.”  
  
“It’s fucking awesome to see, though!” Alex argued, still amazed by what they had done. He probably would have never done it himself, but he was glad he had done it now. To show how grateful he was, he turned a little more serious and hugged her. “I’m glad you let me come with you.”  
  
When they both pulled away from the hug something unexpected happened. Nobody knocked on the door, the fire alarm didn’t go off, and neither got a phone call. Nothing interrupted the brief look they shared that led to a kiss. Alex nor Emma had felt it coming until that split second in time. They had both let their guards down and it led to this specific moment.  
  
But it didn’t last long.  
  
Realization set in at the same time for both. They broke apart with a jump before any gesture other than kissing back could make its way into there. If it had lasted one second longer, Emma knew she would have wrapped her arms around Alex’s neck and Alex knew he definitely would have had his hands on Emma’s waist. They were still in the awkward position of ending a hug, so it was easier to put a few feet in between them.  
  
“What was that?” Emma asked in shock, unsure whether she liked it or not.  
  
“Something that shouldn’t have happened,” Alex said and knew his girlfriend was not going to be happy if she ever found out he kissed another girl.  
  
“Yeah, I know. It was weird,” Emma agreed to make Alex feel a little better. However, she didn’t think it was weird at all. She had made up her mind and decided she actually quite enjoyed it. All she really needed was a rebound. “And I know you have a girlfriend, don’t worry, I respect that.”  
  
“Okay, good, we’re on the same page.” He nodded, but something strange happened. For some reason, he didn’t care if his girlfriend was going to get mad. He felt like it was worth it.  
  
“It was just a heat of the moment thing,” she commented, but it didn’t excuse anything.  
  
The moment hadn’t ended yet. Despite knowing what was best, they couldn’t resist testing the waters again only to find out they didn’t mind it at all. It went further than the short confused kiss from before. Although wearing a lot of layers to keep warm, they were all single-handedly peeled off their bodies until they were both on the bed they had tried to trade in for twin beds on the first day but weren’t able to. If the hotel hadn’t been booked fully, maybe they would have never given in to their temptations.  
  
Alex rolled on the condom before Emma climbed on top of him. No more kisses were shared between them, only heavy panting was exchanged, Alex groaning on the mattress while Emma moaned above him with an arched back. There was no romance hidden behind their actions, they both just needed the physical interaction. Emma needed something to take her mind off her ex and Alex needed a change of scenery.  
  
As soon as it ended, Emma disappeared into the bathroom and didn’t return before Alex had fallen asleep. They both acted like nothing had happened the next morning when they had to leave. Just like that, their random fact game ended along with it.


	7. The Seventh Encounter

The seventh encounter only happened a few weeks after Emma’s trip to Iceland with Alex. Their relationship went back to what it was before the whole Twitter thing as soon as Alex left to go to his connecting flight and Emma went to the exit. Neither attempted to make any contact after it. It was like they were strangers again, strangers with a very intimate secret. It especially caused distress for Emma. She at least expected an angry message that said she had caused a fight between Alex and his girlfriend.  
  
She was leaving a building in LA when another significant person happened to be walking past from a lunch date he had had with friends. One was extremely happy, while the other had only been having countless bad days right after each other.  
  
“Emma!” Jack shouted to catch her attention when he spotted her coming out of the large glass doors, jogging up to her. “What are you doing out in LA?”  
  
But when he got closer, he could see that Emma did not look good at all. He knew her as the girl that was confident enough to get up on stage with a stranger without being drunk, the girl who knew her self worth and wouldn’t just give her number out to random people, and the girl who trusted so much she was okay with a strange man going on a trip with her. Her face showed that she was broken and it made Jack feel horrible for being so cheerful himself.  
  
“I just had an audition for a movie,” she explained gloomily, leaving out her usual bubbly greeting and hug. “It didn’t go all too well. The character’s supposed to be this always happy best friend, and I couldn’t exactly portray that right now.”  
  
“What’s been going on?” Jack asked laced with concern. He knew Emma even less than Alex, but he couldn’t leave her like this. “Is it because of your trip with Alex?”  
  
“This has nothing to do with what happened with Alex,” Emma lied, still trying to forget about what they had done, what she had done.  
  
“I knew something happened! Alex was being way too quiet about it all!” Jack exclaimed, trying to quiet down his accusation a little. “And this so has to do with it. I’m taking you out for coffee right now so we can talk about this.”  
  
“I’m really not up for coffee right now, Jack,” she sighed while longing to get back to her hotel and just climb into bed.  
  
“You need to talk, you can’t just bottle it up. I’ll pay.”  
  
And so, Jack took Emma to one of his favorite cafes. He ordered them both a coffee and bought a cookie along with it for them to share--although he hoped Emma would either not want it or leave him a bigger piece. He brought the drinks from the check-out counter and put them onto the table as he slid onto the chair across from Emma at their two-person table.  
  
“Okay, spill,” he said as he carefully took a sip from his own coffee.  
  
Emma, however, just had her hands wrapped around this coffee cup and refused to say anything other than, “but I don’t know you.”  
  
“So? Forget about that for now,” Jack shrugged, breaking the cookie in half and starting to nibble on his piece. “I know Alex really well, so I can practically tell you anything you need to know. It will be like talking to him about whatever’s on your mind without the pressure of it actually being him.”  
  
She didn’t do anything for a couple of seconds, but eventually drank some of her own coffee, making Jack smile. It wasn’t much, but it showed that she caved and was actually going to do something a little social. There was some sort of trust she now had.  
  
“Do you really want to know?” She double checked, pulling up one side of her mouth to show her uncertainty. “Because there’s no way to say it nicely and it will be very direct.”  
  
“I can’t help you if I don’t know what’s wrong,” Jack confirmed and watched as Emma broke off a half from her side of the cookie, putting the other piece closer to him to show that he could have it.  
  
“Alex and I had sex,” she deadpanned and casually bit into the small piece of cookie.  
  
Jack, however, choked on his coffee and nearly spat it out. “I knew something must have happened. But I expected some kind of a moment, not actually sex!”  
  
“Yes, and I feel horrible about it. It was bad. The sex itself wasn’t bad, but the situation is bad.”  
  
“Did you catch feelings for him?” Jack genuinely wondered, knowing the root of the problem but not what was causing her to be so down.  
  
“No… I just feel guilty,” Emma mumbled as she opened a packet of sugar and poured it into her coffee before slowly stirring it. “He was like a rebound--my boyfriend broke up with me just mere days before. But he has a girlfriend. I helped him cheat on her. I’ve been cheated on myself, and it’s the worst feeling.”  
  
“Huh…” Jack frowned and gave a nod. “I don’t think she knows. I didn’t even get to hear anything from Alex. And I’m sure he would have had to sleep on the couch even if she found out and she was semi-okay with it.”  
  
It made Emma feel even worse that they lived together and that she could have ruined their entire relationship. “That still doesn’t make what I did any better!”  
  
“Well, no, not exactly. But you didn’t ruin their relationship. As far as I know and have heard, they’re still happily together. Those two are always a little confusing to me, though.”  
  
“Even if I didn’t ruin it, I still can’t ever see Alex again. And I have a tendency of ruining into him at random moments!” She freaked out a little, rubbing her temples.  
  
“Why? It’s not like you’re into him, and he’s still into his girlfriend. It will just be like the usual five minutes you see each other.” Jack didn’t see the problem. If Alex had tried to get with her at the party and was able to act normal again after that, then it shouldn’t be much different this time.  
  
“Cause it was awkward as fuck!” Emma whisper-shouted and ran her finger through her hair.  
  
“Having sex was awkward? Well, that’s no good.” He shook his head.  
  
“No, no, the sex itself was great.” She slowly felt like she was gossiping with one of her best friends instead of one of Alex’s. It was taking a great weight off her shoulders, she hadn’t said a word to anybody else about it. “But before and after was awkward! The kiss was fine, so was getting naked and the little foreplay we had, but I’m not on birth control, so we couldn’t just get down to business. Alex said he didn’t have any condoms on him because he wasn’t expecting to have sex, but I just casually pulled some out of my bag--now bear in mind that I was going to go on this trip with my boyfriend, who broke up with me after I had packed my bag and I wasn’t just not going to go. So, that’s awkward number one. Awkward number two, I only had magnum condoms with me. Alex was like ‘oh fuck’ since he never used those before and never felt the need to try them--not my fault my ex-boyfriend preferred them. We managed to make it work, but it was definitely not a good one to pull.”  
  
“Way to lower a guy’s self-esteem,” Jack snorted, finding the humor in the story Emma was telling.  
  
“I know right!” She laughed along, her emotions slowly changing for the better. “But that’s not all. I had no clue what to do when we were done because we had to share a bed and I couldn’t just imagine lying there and starting pillow talk, so I got out there as soon as it ended and hid in the bathroom. I was literally in there for hours because I couldn’t just walk out. That was also awkward as fuck. Then the next morning I went to have breakfast before he even woke up. When he finally did come down, he sat at the same table and I had just finished so I left and told him we had to go to the airport in an hour. Also awkward. We didn’t talk until we finally decided to forget about what happened.”  
  
“Man, that is a mess,” Jack apologized. “But how was your trip otherwise? Was it also that awkward?”  
  
And so Emma described everything, from the slight awkwardness at the beginning to the game they made to overcome that, to all the different activities they had done. Although she obviously didn’t notice herself, Jack saw how she lit up when talking about all the ‘normal’ things she had done with Alex. To him, there was an interest in her that went beyond the ‘rebound’ she claimed to view him as. But he could see that she definitely didn’t notice it herself.  
  
“Tell you what, if you give me your number, I’ll make sure to keep you updated if anything does happen between Alex and Megan,” Jack gave as a suggestion, both to keep her nerves down and as an excuse to contact her when Alex was single again.  
  
And, just like that, Jack had scored Emma’s phone number, but for different reasons than he had always wanted it before. He really did root for the two.


	8. The Eighth Encounter

The eighth encounter wasn’t a physical one. It didn’t happen until mid-2014, when Emma had completely forgotten about her little mishap with Alex and her confession to Jack. She still waited anxiously by the phone for the first few weeks, waiting for the call from Jack to tell her that she had ruined Alex’s relationship. It never came. Slowly but surely, Emma got on with her life. She got over her ex-boyfriend, she got over what happened with Alex, and she no longer remembered the promise she had made with Jack.  
  
Her life was actually going quite well. She managed to land herself a role as a small supporting character yet again, only this time she managed to get onto Broadway. All her hard work had paid off and all the rejections had only made her improve more and more. She wasn’t all too far away from her dream job. No wonder a one-night-stand and a lousy promise were no longer the most important things in life.  
  
She actually managed to find love again despite having her heart be broken by Ethan and having a strange and confusing few days with Alex. It just showed that with some time, everything was going to be okay again. This love mainly came in the form of a puppy in the beginning. A family friend’s dog had had puppies, and so Emma ended up with a cute little dachshund named Rosey. It was no longer just her and her cactus.  
  
This eighth encounter came in the form of an unexpected phone call. It occurred at a fairly early time in the morning and came from a phone number Emma did not recognize at all. She assumed it must have been something work-related; maybe an answer to an audition or a job offer, which she was always open to since she was still trying to climb that ladder. But it wasn’t that at all.  
  
“Emma!” The person chirped on the other side of the line. “You’re never going to guess what!”  
  
“Umm, I’m sorry, who is this?” She frowned back, not able to identify the voice and not understanding why the person was being so casual.  
  
“It’s Jack! Remember, you gave me your phone number some time beginning last year?”  
  
“Oh, right, yeah!” She nodded, already sat up in her bed for quite a while. “Hi, Jack.”  
  
“I made a promise to you back then to call when Alex and Megan broke up,” he spoke fast and very enthusiastically. “Well, they broke up!”  
  
“You were going to call me if I had anything to do with it,” she corrected, confused why she needed to know this information.  
  
“Really? That was the promise? I can’t remember the exact details. As far as I know, this was not because of you. It would be kind of strange if she found out now. You never know, though. But there must be a reason why I immediately thought to call you when I heard…” he seemed to be in thought for a while. “Maybe I just can’t remember the promise properly.”  
  
“Yeah, I think you got my intentions a bit twisted,” Emma chuckled.  
  
“Wait! I remember! You said you didn’t care about him other than a rebound, but when you were telling all these stories of what you guys did, it became quite clear you had some feelings for Alex. I didn’t tell you back then, but I promised myself to call when they eventually did break up, like they always do. He can’t stay in a relationship that goes forward one step and back three. Anyway, Alex is completely single!”  
  
“Yeah…” she sucked in a breath, not understanding how Jack had gotten any of that from her stories. “I’m not…”  
  
She looked down at the man she was straddling. He was shirtless and his hair was a mess. On his side of the bed, the digital alarm clock showed they had another half an hour before they had to get up; on her side was a picture of the two of them together along with Rosey. Emma herself was sitting with nothing on except for her panties.  
  
If their shared bed didn’t say anything about their relationship, then their history sure did. This guy wasn’t just somebody random. Emma knew him from her time at school. He didn’t go to the same school, but his family lived in the same apartment complex as Emma’s. They became best friends as little kids, grew apart a little during middle school, then became really close again during high school, until he left for university. But when he moved back to New York, he decided to search for Emma. When they met, the sparks just flew.  
  
“I’m sorry, Jack,” Emma apologized, rubbing her hand on the guy’s chest, “but it was nice hearing from you.”  
  
The phone call ended and Emma put back her phone on her nightstand. She really hoped half an hour was enough to finish what she had started with her boyfriend.  
  
“Who was that?” he asked and put his hands on her hips, tickling her skin softly.  
  
“Oh, just an old friend. Remember I told you I wasn’t doing all that well sometime last year? I ran into him and he helped cheer me up. He was just checking up again and asking if I was in LA, but I’m not, as you know,” Emma gave a white lie. It wasn’t that she was afraid he’d get jealous, she just didn’t need to get into the story of Alex. It took too long.  
  
“Well, that’s nice of him.”  
  
“Yeah, it’s nice of him to think about me,” she agreed with a smile before dipping down and resuming their makeout session.


	9. The Ninth Encounter

The ninth encounter was the first random run in between Alex and Emma in ages. It was spring 2015 and the pair hadn’t spoken since 2013 after they had parted ways at the airport. Emma often still liked Alex’s tweets, but her like just drowned in the sea of thousands of other people. Alex liked Emma’s a little less often. She didn’t get as many likes, not even close to it, so his likes were a lot more noticed. He did it whenever something actually did make him laugh or when he felt he needed to to be polite. But he didn’t dare do it too often and seem like he was actually stalking her. It was a complicated thing.  
  
What was way less complicated, though, was the act of grocery shopping, or at least it should have been that way. Alex was just out getting some snacks for himself while out in New York for some business including writing a song. He still had a few beers back at the place he was staying at, but needed something to eat. Or at least, he needed some junk food to stuff his mouth with while pulling all-nighters.  
  
Emma was just out buying stuff for dinner. Her dinner was nothing like Alex’s, which consisted of Cheetos, nachos, and beer. Hers actually had real cooked food and vegetables. It really showed where there were in life. Alex was living the single life of not giving a fuck, while Emma was living the couple’s life of caring for two people and a dog. She was still trying to cook as much as she could before her Broadway shows where she was a leading support character started. She loved cooking, but her boyfriend was going to have to do the job now.  
  
Alex and Emma bumped into each other in the cookie aisle. This time, they didn’t literally bump into each other, they just happened to look in each other’s directions. Emma was looking at something to make a dessert with, while Alex was looking for something that was just chocolate-galore. When they made eye contact, they both decided they couldn’t just walk away and approached each other instead.  
  
“Hey, I didn’t expect to find you in a grocery store in New York,” Emma pointed out, going for her usual hug, which Alex returned.  
  
“Yeah, you know,” he shrugged and gestured to his basket, “just buying necessities.”  
  
Emma saw the heap on junk food and asked, “oh, are you having a party?”  
  
“You can say that.” He gave a slow nod before deciding he couldn’t lie about this. He wasn’t going to seem like the party animal he most definitely wasn’t right then. “If you call me sitting in my underwear stuffing my mouth a party, then yes.”  
  
“That sounds like the best party anybody can have,” she giggled and shook her head at his silliness. She then pointed at her own cart. “I’m having a dinner party.”  
  
“Oooh, fancy.” Alex wiggled his eyebrows, sensing how different their lives really were.  
  
“Eh, we’ll see how fancy.”  
  
“I’ll take a dinner party over eating Cheetos in my underwear any day.”  
  
“Really?” Emma questioned, not sure how honest he was being. “Cause if so, would you like to trade lives? I feel like stuffing myself with Cheetos in my underwear.”  
  
“Nothing’s stopping you from doing so!” Alex encouraged.  
  
“A dinner party is,” she sighed back. In all honesty, she wasn’t not looking forward to it. She loved cooking and all, but there was a little more behind it all.  
  
“Hey, babe…” The same guy who had been with her in her bed when Jack called, turned into the aisle where Emma said she was going to be, holding two packets in his hands, looking at them before looking up at his girlfriend. “Which one will your mom like more?”  
  
“It’s rice, James,” she laughed back, holding back the urge to roll her eyes, “I don’t think it matters.”  
  
“Actually…” Alex butted in and pointed at the pack that had purple on it. “It might be cheaper, but I prefer that over any other rice I’ve tried.”  
  
“Well, then that’s a decision made.” Emma took the one Alex chose from James’ hand and put it in the cart. “Thanks, Alex.”  
  
“Okay, I’m going to go put this back and get the dog food,” James announced and disappeared again.  
  
It all made sense to Alex. The dinner party wasn’t just with friends, it was with her parents and boyfriend. It was even bigger than he had originally thought. Not bigger in size, but bigger in importance. Even if it just had been her and her parents, it would have been quite important. Emma liked everything being perfect when her family came over.  
  
“Meeting the parents, huh?” He showed that he had put one and one together.  
  
“Oh, no, actually,” Emma dismissed. “We’ve been together for almost two years now and actually live together. Plus, he used to be my best friend in high school and when we were kids. So, they know him.”  
  
“Oh, wow.” Alex didn’t realize the relationship had been going on for that long and was that serious. Emma never really did post about it on Twitter. “Star-crossed lovers.”  
  
“I wouldn’t say that. I never once developed a crush on him when we were kids. We just really hit it off when he moved back out here.”  
  
“Well, I’m still waiting to find that person for myself. It’s taking a while, but I’m patient.”  
  
“What about Megan?” Emma wondered, remembering the whole on-again-off-again thing they had.  
  
“No.” Alex shook his head with furrowed eyebrows. “We’re not together anymore.”  
  
“That’s been awhile…” she whispered to herself. It had almost been a year since Jack had called.  
  
“Huh?”  
  
“Oh, nothing. I just remember you told me you often broke up and got back together.” Emma clarified trying to say it without being rude.  
  
“Megan and I are officially over,” Alex explained with a shake of the head. “You were right, it gets frustrating.”  
  
Before Emma could ask any further questions, James came back with the dog food. At least he did know exactly what to get for that. It was a more frequent buy for him than rice. Emma would often ask him to drop by a store after work after they ran out, but she usually did the groceries herself. But since he was going to have to take over the cooking, Emma was showing him the ropes again, the ropes he had lost after college.  
  
“Hey, if you guys want, we’re going to play a show here sometime next week,” Alex piped up with a sudden idea, “you should come. I’ll add you to the guest list.”  
  
“This will be the first time I get to see you live!” Emma grinned excitedly.  
  
“Hey, you’ve seen me perform live before and it was the best time of your life.” Alex winked, causing James to frown. He had no clue who this guy was talking to his girlfriend. All he knew was that he had overheard the rice conversation, not something else.  
  
“Karaoke guy,” Emma mumbled to James to make clear who Alex was.  
  
“Oh, right!” James nodded, obviously knowing the story, making Alex feel a little neglected since he was known as just the ‘karaoke guy’--he always told everybody else many more stories about Emma, she wasn’t just ‘karaoke girl’ to him. “If you want to.”  
  
“We’ll be there!” Emma stated enthusiastically.


	10. The Tenth Encounter

The ninth encounter had led to the tenth encounter. Once again, it was planned, but would not have happened if it weren’t for the unexpected one just a week before. Alex put the two names on the guest list and told them to be early so they could hang out again. He really did want to catch up with Emma and he couldn’t do that if they arrived when he had to play and left as soon as the show was over. So, he told them to come even before the support band played so they could either listen to the music together or continue their conversation as well. He had no idea if they could stay after the show for a couple of drinks, but he really hoped so.  
  
Alex was even a little nervous when the time came around for them to arrive. He was sitting in the green room with the rest of the band and had been excited for so long that he was now worried it wasn’t going to live up to his expectations. What if things got awkward between them? What if he accidentally brought up what happened in Iceland in front of her boyfriend and caused something? What if he and Emma didn’t hit it off like they always had before? It all made his leg bounce up and down, annoying everybody else in the room.  
  
“Dude, can you please stop shaking your leg!” Jack finally groaned, making everybody else in the room sigh in relief when Alex stopped. “I don’t know why your ass is all nervous, but it’s just Emma.”  
  
Alex gave Jack a long annoyed look. To Alex, Jack had no idea what happened between him and Emma. Even Alex had tried to ignore it for all those years, but he couldn’t do that anymore, especially if he was going to have to be nice to her boyfriend. While he definitely should have, Alex had never regretted sleeping with Emma. Sure, it had been a little awkward, but that was only because he was in a relationship. If he hadn’t been, who knew how things would have ended? And Jack was just acting like it wasn’t a big deal.  
  
“I know what happened, but you’re freaking out way too much over this,” Jack said, shaking his head at Alex.  
  
“You know what happened?” Alex frowned. He doubted Jack actually knew what he was thinking of. It was more likely that Jack remembered the party and thought that he felt bad about that. “No, you don’t.”  
  
“Umm, yes I do,” Jack insisted. “I spoke to Emma two years ago not long after it had happened. I ran into her in LA. And I called her, like, a year ago.”  
  
“Wait, what happened?” Rian butted in, wanting to know what was going on.  
  
“Hang on. You saw her and got her phone number without telling me?” Alex exclaimed, completely ignoring Rian’s question.  
  
“Why would I have told you?” Jack retorted and crossed his arms. “You were together with Megan, it shouldn’t matter to you. If you really cared and wanted to make contact, you could have just sent a message like before.”  
  
“So you slept with her as well?!” Alex’s voice sounded angry, but on the inside he felt his heart drop. Although it was something quick and unromantic, he always thought what he had done with Emma was at least a little special. If she had slept with his best friend as well just mere weeks after, then he didn’t know what to feel.  
  
“No, but you did,” Jack blurted out. Making Alex turn red and causing Rian and Zack to look at him like he had two heads. “She was afraid she ruined your relationship with Megan, so I promised I would tell her if it ever happened. I called her when you and Megan broke up because I forgot the exact terms for our promise and I thought she would be happy. But she was already way past moving on from it.”  
  
“Okay, great. And I should care because…?”  
  
“Well, you shouldn’t, but you literally just got mad at me for not telling you I saw her and that I have her phone number.”  
  
“Yeah, you’re right, I’m sorry,” Alex apologized, feeling ashamed. “Anyway, her boyfriend seemed really nice, you guys will see when you meet him.”  
  
Everybody dropped the subject even though Zack and Rian had so many questions including how it happened, when it happened, and how it was. But they could sense too that it wasn’t something Alex really wanted to talk about. They felt like he was trying to hide his emotions behind being happy for her. But in actuality, Alex really did think that James was a good match for Emma, especially with how long they knew each other.  
  
When Emma was finally led to the green room by a crew member, she excitedly hugged every member. However, there was something missing, something very clearly missing.  
  
After they had sat her down on the lounge chair in the green room while they occupied the couches, Jack asked the question everybody was wondering, “wait, where’s your boyfriend? Alex said we’d get to meet him?”  
  
Emma gave an answer Alex did not expect at all, “oh, he’s not coming.”  
  
“No?” Alex questioned, afraid he had maybe found out about their history and that he didn’t want to come because of that.  
  
“It’s complicated,” she brushed off.  
  
Everybody respected that she didn’t want to give the exact answer; everybody except Jack. He gave her a look that repeated the words he had said two years before: ‘don’t bottle it up, you need to talk about it’.  
  
So, she spilled it all. “Okay, fine I’ll tell you. James got a job offer in Minnesota, accepted it, and is needed there already in a week. This morning, he proposed and asked me to move with him, but I couldn’t say yes to either question. He’s back at my apartment now, packing all his stuff. He should be gone before I come back.”  
  
“Oh, shit…” Jack apologized. He knew there was something she was hiding, but he didn’t expect it to be this serious. The most he expected was that her boyfriend--or now ex--didn’t want to come along anymore because he didn’t like somebody in the band or the music. But this was super personal.  
  
“Yeah.” Emma shrugged and leaned back in the chair. “I wonder what I would have said if he proposed to me and there was no Minnesota to move to… Is it bad that I don’t know? I mean, it doesn’t really matter, because I said no now, but still.”  
  
“I don’t think it’s bad,” Rian stated before she got a biased opinion from either Jack or Alex. “It just means you weren’t ready for that step. It doesn’t mean you don’t love somebody.”  
  
“Yeah, I guess…” she took it as an explanation and used to make herself feel a little less confused about her feelings.”I don’t even understand why he’d ask me to move out to Minnesota, where there’s nothing for me. Especially knowing I finally got a job on Broadway.”  
  
“You got a job on Broadway? That a reason to celebrate, though!” Alex exclaimed, trying to lighten up the mood and take her mind off the break-up.  
  
“Weirdly enough I’m not upset,” Emma made clear before everybody was acting like they had to walk on eggshells around her and was constantly trying to cheer her up. “Maybe it’s just taking a while to hit me, maybe I won’t be upset until I wake up alone a few mornings in a row. Although the circumstances should cause the opposite, I don’t feel like this was a bad breakup. I’m actually excited to see you guys again, that’s all.”  
  
“And that’s okay. Don’t beat yourself up for not feeling sad,” Rian advised, feeling like that was what was going on inside of her. She was more confused about not feeling upset than she actually was upset.  
  
“Wait…” Jack came in with an inappropriate statement and looked in between Alex and Emma. “Does this mean that you guys are both single at the same time for the first time?”  
  
Alex and Emma shared a look, and it was indeed true.


	11. The Final Encounter

Emma and Alex did not get together the day she broke up with James despite Jack’s hope and meddling. It only made sense. Emma wasn’t exactly up to jumping into a new relationship after just getting out of one that ended on a super serious note, and Alex was not going to take advantage of the situation. Also, he didn’t want to be a rebound guy. He didn’t mind the idea of dating her, he actually quite liked the idea.  
  
So, he waited as long as she needed. He didn’t date anybody else, he didn’t hook up with anybody else, he just waited. And it wasn’t just one-sided, Alex wasn’t doing it for no reason. Emma knew that he was waiting for her to be ready. He made sure she didn’t feel pressured and instead took her time. They stayed friends for the time being, keeping in contact rather than leaving it up to their chance encounters to bring them back together.  
  
It took a while.  
  
Emma was in her dressing room after a show. It wasn’t opening night, it was a few evenings later. Although she could have gotten tickets for the first show, she didn’t know anybody who was able to make it. Or, well, her parents were supposed to make it, but her aunt’s husband had passed away and her parents had to be there for her mom’s sister and for the funeral. Emma never really knew her aunt that well, so missing the funeral herself didn’t cause her any distress. Her parents, however, did make up for it and came another night to watch their daughter  
  
“You were great!” her mom gushed as her parents entered the dressing room, going straight to hug Emma.  
  
“You really think so?” Emma asked, hugging back her mom, being rocked a little from left to right.  
  
Her mom pulled away and held her at an arm’s length. “Are you crazy?! Of course I think so!”  
  
Emma’s dad took his turn to congratulate her next. He pulled her in his side, kissed the top of her head, and handed her a bouquet of flowers. “You were amazing, baby girl.”  
  
“I love you guys,” Emma smiled and kissed them both on the cheek.  
  
As the moment started coming to an end, a knock was heard from the door. All three of them looked around to see who it was. Emma was expecting to see one of her co-stars or maybe somebody who helped with her costumes, but was pleasantly surprised when it was somebody else.  
  
“Alex!” She grinned and ran up to him, hugging him tightly. “You made it!”  
  
“Of course I did,” he chuckled back, “I wasn’t going to miss this.”  
  
After their hug ended, she pulled him further into the room and announced, “I don’t think you’ve ever met my parents.”  
  
“I’ve barely met you,” Alex pointed out jokingly.  
  
Emma further introduced them. She recounted that she and Alex had gone to Iceland together, to which her mom remembered who he was. Alex didn’t know anything about Emma’s parents other than that they had adopted her and had encouraged-slash-supported her decision to go to theater school and follow her dream. He could, however, tell that they weren’t her biological parents. She had all their mannerisms, which made sense, but she looked nothing like them. Alex knew Emma for her signature blonde hair and eyes that looked brown at first glance but actually were more hazel in color. Her parents both had black hair and the darkest of brown eyes, her mom of Italian descent and her dad with British heritage. But none of that meant they weren’t her parents and that she didn’t love them.  
  
They even asked Alex to come with them to dinner. Although they were first going to just take their daughter out, they decided it would be fun to ask her really good friend to come along. It showed Alex where Emma had gotten her spontaneity from. They did it without knowing much about him and without caring how their plans would be affected. It was fun, and that was all that mattered, just like a lot of the things he had done with Emma.  
  
The dinner was anything but awkward. Emma’s parents seemed to really like Alex despite going a trip with her when they barely knew anything about each other. Alex felt like he was being embraced by her family and made part of it even though they were only friends. Somehow, spending time with the people who raised her, Alex felt his heart flutter even more whenever he looked in Emma’s direction. It was like he understood her even better.  
  
So, you can imagine that he didn’t want the evening to end when her parents had to go back home. Emma was thinking the exact same thing. While Alex was still unsure what he could and couldn’t do before overstepping boundaries, Emma didn’t worry about it at all. But then again, she never had. Even when she had boyfriends, she would always act really close with Alex. It was just the way she was. It was quite difficult for Alex to read.  
  
“When do you have to leave?” Emma asked Alex as they walked out of the restaurant, her parents already having left ten minutes before.  
  
“My flight leaves tomorrow morning at eight,” he responded. Although it was one of his only days off during a long tour, when Emma offered him tickets to her show--she managed to score the role as Cinderella on Broadway for a few months--he couldn’t say no. Taking a long flight and sitting for two hours wasn’t the optimal day off, but he wanted to see her.  
  
“Hmm… alright…” Emma nodded, a plan brewing in her head. She grabbed Alex’s hand and started dragging him along. “Come on, we have some time.”  
  
Alex’s heart skipped a beat as Emma unexpectedly took his hand. Although he would never admit it to Jack, he really had developed a crush on this girl, especially since they had both been single. He had always been intrigued by her, but he was now crushing on her big time. All he hoped was that she’d feel the same way someday. He knew that she knew that he was waiting for her. The only question was if she thought it would be good idea, or if she’d fall in love with yet another guy.  
  
Emma pulled him all the way to the nearest intersection and watched for a while before hailing a cab, making Alex wonder how she did it so effortlessly. As the cab started pulling up, Emma stepped forward confidently, making sure Alex had no choice but to do the same. She pulled open the door and started to push Alex in.  
  
“Hang on, you go in first,” he refused and forced Emma to switch places so he could hold open the door for her, “you’re the lady.”  
  
“I’m no lady!” Emma laughed, but got in nonetheless, knowing that it would either piss off the driver or somebody else would take their cab if they took any longer.  
  
“You’re literally a princess on Broadway,” Alex argued as he slipped into the cab as well, closing the door behind him.  
  
Emma gave the driver an address before settling into the backseat. She and Alex were still sitting far apart, the middle seat keeping the space between them. While Alex usually loved looking out of the window, he couldn’t help but consistently take glances at Emma who was scrolling through something on her phone.  
  
Alex was super confused where they were. There were buildings surrounding him, but there was nothing he could spot that Emma would want to take him to for a fun evening. But the answer came after Emma paid for the cab--making Alex feel bad because he had completely forgotten to offer to pay--and closed the door.  
  
“I just want to change and I have to feed my doggo, but after that we can go,” Emma told him, walking to the front door of a building and opening it.  
  
“Wait, you live here?” Alex frowned, taking a look at the industrial warehouse in front of him.  
  
“Yeah, it’s way nicer on the inside, though.”  
  
And it was. Emma lived on the top floor behind a bright red door. Her apartment followed an open plan. The kitchen flowed into the dining room, which quickly became the living room, then a large heavy sliding door could be used to separate the bedroom from the rest. While quite an old building, the walls were a nice combination of smooth white walls and the authentic brick ones, and the windows fit with the rustic aesthetic everybody was trying to achieve. Emma had decorated it in quite a modern and sleek way. He couldn’t imagine that she had ever lived here with her ex--which happened to be true. She moved after noticing that everything haunted her in her old apartment, it made her feel guilty.  
  
A dachshund came barreling towards the two, barely greeting Emma before excitedly sniffing around Alex to see who the stranger was. Although Alex didn’t mind it one bit--he actually missed his own dogs--Emma still instructed Rosey to stay down. She announced that she was going to feed her before going to the kitchen with the dog bouncing around her.  
  
“Hey, do you mind if I use your bathroom really quickly?” Alex asked, standing awkwardly in the middle of the apartment.  
  
“Sure, it’s that door right there.” Emma pointed at a white door in the wall next to the adjacent large sliding door mentioned before.  
  
“Okay, thanks.”  
  
Alex went to the bathroom and did what he had to do. He looked at himself in the mirror while washing his hands, his thoughts going into overdrive. His heart started beating a little faster. He was wondering if he should try to make a move. It had been a while, and Alex really was getting feelings for Emma, he didn’t want to wait too long and fall in love with her from a distance. But he had no idea how to make that move. He didn’t know what they were going to do, he just trusted Emma to surprise him.  
  
When he left the bathroom, he noticed the sliding door was closed, but not all the way. He looked in the direction and saw Emma taking off the shirt she was wearing, revealing her bare torso and chest. Next, her jeans followed and, to his surprise, her panties also came off. Alex couldn’t help but stare through the small gap. He knew it was wrong, but he couldn’t tear his eyes away. She swept her hair to one shoulder and started pulling on a matching lacey burgundy underwear set. Alex started feeling a tingling sensation start inside of him. He wanted nothing more than to sneak inside and kiss her, making his move. But he couldn’t. The worst case scenario seemed too big of a risk. She could freak out and accuse him of creeping on her while changing. So, he finally broke his gaze and took a seat on the couch, Emma’s dog coming up to him and asking for attention.  
  
Shortly after, Emma reemerged from her bedroom, now fully clothed. Her outfit was so innocent, but Alex knew what she was wearing underneath; he just didn’t know exactly what matching underwear meant for a girl. She was wearing black leggings, a simple white flowy shirt, a short denim jacket, and some cute taupe boots. Alex smiled at her when they made brief eye contact.  
  
“Just give me a second, okay?” Emma excused and slipped into the bathroom.  
  
She had a similar moment with the mirror, only she knew exactly what she wanted from this night. Although Alex was going to have to leave early that morning, she was wearing her best pair of underwear. It didn’t necessarily mean she wanted the night to end in sex--although she wasn’t opposed by the idea--it just meant that she had an extra confidence boost. She had a whole game plan ready, unlike Alex.  
  
“Okay, let’s go!” She exclaimed as she came out of the bathroom, making Alex get up from the couch and follow her out of the apartment.  
  
This time, they didn’t get a cab. Instead, Emma started leading towards wherever she wanted to go. To Alex, it shouldn’t be that far away, otherwise they would have taken another means of transport that didn’t consist of walking. Emma didn’t even bring them to a subway station, so it really just had to be a couple blocks away. Still, Alex had no clue where he was going. He was thinking of grabbing Emma’s hand so they could walk hand in hand as his first move, but it would have been more than awkward if he would do it right outside where they had to be, so he didn’t want to make a fool of himself.  
  
But then he recognized something.  
  
“Hey, isn’t this the flower shop you used to work at--I’m assuming you don’t work there anymore.” Alex stopped in his tracks and pointed at the shop he could still vaguely remember walking in and seeing Emma for the second time.  
  
“Yeah,” she nodded enthusiastically and stood with him, “and you’re right, I don’t exactly work there anymore. Although, I do co-own it with the person who was my co-worker at the time. They were shutting down the place, so we managed to buy it quite cheaply. We didn’t want it to close.”  
  
“Really?” He asked, his voice laced with surprise. What was even stranger was that it still seemed to be open. The blackboard was still outside and the lights were still on. “And it’s still supposed to be open at this hour?”  
  
“It’s why business is actually doing pretty well.” She winked, but didn’t show any signs of wanting to go inside. “People don’t just fuck up during the day. They need to apologize to partners at the weirdest times of night.”  
  
Alex nodded casually before storming into the store and screaming, _“code five!”_  
  
The person working there was helping somebody, who turned to look at Alex in confusion, much like Alex had done all those years ago when somebody interrupted him and Emma. Coincidentally the guy working there was the same guy who helped him after Emma took the new client. It was all too perfect to be true, a direct reflection from the past.  
  
The guy shouted something to somebody who apparently was in the back, “yo, Pat, take over from me, I’m going to help code five!”  
  
“'kay!” A girl appeared from the back room and jogged up to the guy who was being helped already.  
  
When the guy started walking up to Alex, Emma came running in as well, scoffing, “Alex!”  
  
“Oh, Emma!” the guy chirped, pleasantly surprised to see his co-owner. “I didn’t know you’d be coming in today.”  
  
“Neither did I, but Alex came running in,” she said before turning to Alex, “you don’t even have a girlfriend.”  
  
“Psh, let me do this,” Alex retorted and made a motion for her to back away.  
  
Emma did as he gestured and slowly left the store as he kept glaring at her. She was confused beyond measures. Here she was, thinking Alex was waiting for her, wanting to show that she was finally ready for a relationship, and he was out screaming ‘code five’ at her flower shop. Was there a girl she didn’t know about? Had he flown out to see her again and lied to another girl about it? She didn’t want that to happen again.  
  
Meanwhile, inside, Alex corrected himself as soon as the door closed behind Emma. “Okay, it’s actually a code one, but I needed to shout it out for nostalgia.”  
  
“Code one, huh?” The guy, whose name tag said ‘Aaron’, wiggled his eyebrows before throwing an arm around Alex and guiding him somewhere into the store. “Well, you’re lucky I know Emma quite well.”  
  
“Good, cause I feel like it’s easy to go too far over the top in this situation.”  
  
“And that’s not good, especially in Emma’s case. Her place is classy, you don’t want to give her an overabundance of pink and purple flowers.”  
  
“Right,” Alex agreed.  
  
What did code one mean? Well, it was at the bottom of the spectrum. Code five was an emergency, a relationship threatening to come to an end. So, what was the opposite of that? Budding feelings. Flowers to show somebody you cared about them. It wasn’t confessing love just yet, that was the next step. It was, however, a crush you wanted to confess.  
  
“With Emma’s busy schedule, you want to get her something that doesn’t need too much water. While I usually wouldn’t say get a potted plant for a code one, because they often last quite long, I say go for it with Emma. Her place is seriously missing some green stuff, you need to get her a succulent.”  
  
And, so, Alex did. Just a few minutes later, he was walking back outside with a succulent in a nice gray pot. Emma was kicking around a small stone she had found on the floor, waiting for Alex to come back, while she was overthinking what had happened inside.  
  
“Here, this is for you,” Alex said and held out the plant for Emma to take.  
  
Emma frowned, carefully taking it from his hands. “And you need to apologize to me because…?”  
  
She wondered if this was because Alex actually hadn’t been able to wait for her. She was afraid that she had taken too long and that he had moved on. This was his way of apologizing that he couldn’t wait anymore and that he actually already had a different girlfriend. And Emma’s misery would have been caused by her own actions. But no. That wasn’t it at all.  
  
“I don’t.” Alex shook his head. “I lied about the code five, I just really wanted to shout it out because somebody else did the last time I was here and you abandoned me for them. It was really a code one.”  
  
“Oh.” Emma nodded and looked at Alex.  
  
She wanted nothing more than to kiss him, to say she felt the same way, but it wasn’t part of her game plan. For the first time, she actually wanted to follow her plan. If she gave in now, it would seem too much like a one-night-stand, and not a date--even though nobody ever said this was a date.  
  
So, instead all she said was, “thanks.”  
  
This left Alex confused. Here he was, confessing his feelings without words, and all she said was ‘thanks’. He started to think it was a mistake. Something in him said that day was the day to make a move, but maybe it had still been too soon for Emma. He was afraid he really screwed it up. He had promised to never force it on her, yet he was getting her a long-lasting plant. Maybe flowers that died within a week were a better choice for his gesture anyway in the end.  
  
Still, they both went to Emma’s original destination. They had entered a block with more bars and Alex assumed that was all they were going to do. Honestly, he felt a little disappointed, and not just because he thought he had gotten rejected before. Everything he had ever done with Emma felt so spontaneous and exciting. Maybe it was because they usually didn’t plan to see each other, so it was already surprising, and if it was planned, it was some huge thing like a trip. He was afraid that he had built this grand image around Emma that just wasn’t the real her; he was afraid he had caught feeling for his idea of Emma instead of the actual person.  
  
“Do you recognize this place?” Emma nudged as they entered one of the bars that was quite busy. However, when Alex took a bit too long to scan the place and remember it, she quickly explained. “It’s gotten a new owner and it’s been remodeled, but this is where we first met.”  
  
“Wait, really?” Alex frowned.  
  
Sure, it was still a karaoke bar, but the place wasn’t anything like it once was. The bar wasn’t dark anymore. There were more colorful lights, mainly blue and purple, and it was less stuffy. The chairs and tables also had a major upgrade. But when his eyes fell on the stage with the more recent karaoke machine, it was like Alex had been transported back to 2011.  
  
“Holy shit, it is!” He gasped, remembering how different he had been back then. He clearly remembered being quite a dick, ogling at some hot girl after his girlfriend ran out, and falling in love with this girl’s singing.  
  
“Thank god, I thought you forgot!” Emma put a hand to her heart and took a deep breath before walking towards the bar.  
  
“Forget? I would never.” He shook his head and smiled at her as they waited for the bartender.  
  
The chemistry came back as they talked over drinks, listening to the terrible singing from drunk people. It was like they were back in Iceland, challenging each other to tell the other a random fact, only to create a sexual tension between them that secretly had an underlying meaning. The conversation was as easy as back at the recording studio in LA, only without the confusion. Alex once again had eyes for her like at the random house party they were both at. And this time there were no boyfriends or girlfriends holding them back.  
  
At one point, Alex was surprised to hear his and Emma’s names being called to sing something. He didn’t know how it had happened until he recalled Emma disappearing to the bathroom for a little longer than he expected. She gave him a mischievous smirk and pulled him up onto the stage with her. When the melody of the song started playing, Alex couldn’t help but laugh.  
  
Their rendition of _Ain’t No Mountain High Enough_ was even better than the first time. They weren’t strangers anymore.  
  
When the song came to an end, Alex couldn’t help himself. He pulled Emma close and dipped down to kiss her, causing a few stray people at the bar to holler and clap. Emma’s game plan had worked just like she wanted.  
  
All that had been needed was a little more effort than just chance encounters.


End file.
